A Nerdy Analysis of Sketchy Skateboard Industry Paper Trails

Posted on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 by Rob

By Rob Meronek

Back in 2005 when this company called Skate Coverage started a service where they were going to log all magazine coverage and sell reports, the first thing I thought is, "I can do that while I read magazines myself." Being stuck with this numbers/computer brain, stuff like that comes easy. Too bad it's not the same for skateboard tricks. Well, Skate Coverage is long gone, but I'm still here doing what I call Captain Corporate's Coverage Patrol, except my data isn't for sale. It's just a wacky side project. I just took over five years of magazine data and went full nerd war on it below. These charts show how each magazine has done as far as total pages, ad pages, and editorial pages over the years since 2005 and from this quick glance, it sure seems like they're all generally shrinking in recent months. For years now, seems like everyone has been saying print is in trouble. Maybe this is evidence of that? Who knows.

Here are the details on how this data is accumulated. Every month, the four major mags are put into the skater database where ads and editorial are logged in what I call Captain Corporate's Coverage Patrol. For a page to get logged, it simply has to have a skater. Even if they're just throwing gang symbols in front of their rims, as long as it has a skater it in, the page is logged as either editorial or advertising along with who the photographer is. I put all this crazy data I've collected since 2005 into a spreadsheet and out popped these Captain Corporate-ass charts. Each graph shows the total number of pages logged broken down into ad pages and editorial pages. The raw data and details behind each chart is at the bottom of the article.

Skateboarder Magazine

Looks like Skateboarder Magazine has always had about 40 to 50 pages of skate photos each month. In recent months, there's been a bit of a decline.

Slap Magazine

Slap Magazine left paper behind in December 2008. Leading up to that, it looks like things were pretty consistent. They got out just before this trend in recent months that has most mags decreasing content, ads, and total pages.

The Skateboard Mag

I can't remember what month it was when I picked up the new Skateboard Mag and realized how much thinner it was. Their chart shows the dip in recent months that all mags seem to be going through. June 2010 being so far down - not sure if that's a fat finger data entry error or what. I'll have to check on that month.

Thrasher Magazine

Thrasher tends to run more half page photos than most mags. Since most half pages are actually logged as a page of coverage, some of their page counts may be slightly higher than actual. Not sure what happened with June 09. Maybe my subscription ran out. Anyway, Thrasher has remained pretty consistent over the years, but has also shown the slow dip over recent months like some of the other mags.

Transworld Magazine

Of all the mags, Transworld seems to have the sharpest dip in number of pages. Their number of skate photos has also dipped, but not as sharp as overall. One thing to remember: to be logged, a page has to have an actual skater. So, maybe there's the same number of pages in Transworld and just more ads with no skating (milk, video games, etc.)?

Overall Stats

In summary, The Skateboard Mag has the most skate photos in the five year period. Skateboarder Mag has the lowest percentage of ads.

Skateboarder Magazine Data

Month	Total Pages Logged	Editorial Pages Logged	Ad Pages Logged	% Ad Pages
6/2005	76	55	21	27.6%
7/2005	65	40	25	38.5%
8/2005	88	53	35	39.8%
9/2005	71	47	24	33.8%
10/2005	88	55	33	37.5%
11/2005	84	55	29	34.5%
12/2005	76	46	30	39.5%
1/2006	79	52	27	34.2%
2/2006	73	43	30	41.1%
3/2006	76	44	32	42.1%
4/2006	72	40	32	44.4%
5/2006	79	45	34	43%
6/2006	73	40	33	45.2%
7/2006	80	47	33	41.3%
8/2006	81	46	35	43.2%
9/2006	80	45	35	43.8%
10/2006	80	45	35	43.8%
11/2006	78	49	29	37.2%
12/2006	80	46	34	42.5%
1/2007	81	51	30	37%
2/2007	72	42	30	41.7%
3/2007	76	47	29	38.2%
4/2007	79	51	28	35.4%
5/2007	80	49	31	38.8%
6/2007	77	51	26	33.8%
7/2007	80	50	30	37.5%
8/2007	79	52	27	34.2%
9/2007	75	38	37	49.3%
10/2007	77	48	29	37.7%
11/2007	81	45	36	44.4%
12/2007	82	51	31	37.8%
1/2008	77	48	29	37.7%
2/2008	76	49	27	35.5%
3/2008	75	43	32	42.7%
4/2008	75	47	28	37.3%
5/2008	72	47	25	34.7%
6/2008	90	62	28	31.1%
7/2008	79	45	34	43%
8/2008	80	54	26	32.5%
10/2008	82	52	30	36.6%
9/2008	101	64	37	36.6%
11/2008	81	55	26	32.1%
12/2008	80	50	30	37.5%
1/2009	74	51	23	31.1%
2/2009	74	48	26	35.1%
3/2009	77	54	23	29.9%
4/2009	74	55	19	25.7%
5/2009	71	47	24	33.8%
6/2009	67	42	25	37.3%
7/2009	64	43	21	32.8%
8/2009	67	46	21	31.3%
9/2009	68	48	20	29.4%
10/2009	66	45	21	31.8%
11/2009	72	45	27	37.5%
12/2009	64	41	23	35.9%
1/2010	66	44	22	33.3%
2/2010	65	43	22	33.8%
3/2010	65	49	16	24.6%
4/2010	68	52	16	23.5%
5/2010	67	48	19	28.4%
6/2010	61	39	22	36.1%
7/2010	50	35	15	30%
8/2010	61	40	21	34.4%

Slap Magazine Data

Month	Total Pages Logged	Editorial Pages Logged	Ad Pages Logged	% Ad Pages
6/2005	73	41	32	43.8%
7/2005	78	39	39	50%
8/2005	86	44	42	48.8%
9/2005	101	61	40	39.6%
10/2005	84	45	39	46.4%
11/2005	86	45	41	47.7%
12/2005	84	46	38	45.2%
1/2006	102	63	39	38.2%
2/2006	89	51	38	42.7%
3/2006	90	50	40	44.4%
4/2006	94	48	46	48.9%
5/2006	102	56	46	45.1%
6/2006	99	54	45	45.5%
7/2006	87	45	42	48.3%
8/2006	92	51	41	44.6%
9/2006	91	48	43	47.3%
10/2006	96	49	47	49%
11/2006	95	49	46	48.4%
12/2006	91	46	45	49.5%
1/2007	106	60	46	43.4%
2/2007	85	46	39	45.9%
3/2007	87	44	43	49.4%
4/2007	83	43	40	48.2%
5/2007	87	47	40	46%
6/2007	79	39	40	50.6%
7/2007	81	39	42	51.9%
8/2007	85	49	36	42.4%
9/2007	80	42	38	47.5%
10/2007	79	41	38	48.1%
11/2007	87	54	33	37.9%
12/2007	94	55	39	41.5%
1/2008	79	47	32	40.5%
2/2008	76	36	40	52.6%
3/2008	81	50	31	38.3%
4/2008	80	41	39	48.8%
5/2008	81	44	37	45.7%
6/2008	86	54	32	37.2%
7/2008	73	42	31	42.5%
8/2008	74	40	34	45.9%
9/2008	77	46	31	40.3%
10/2008	70	35	35	50%
11/2008	82	54	28	34.1%
12/2008	78	49	29	37.2%

The Skateboard Mag Data

Month	Total Pages Logged	Editorial Pages Logged	Ad Pages Logged	% Ad Pages
6/2005	108	70	38	35.2%
7/2005	110	69	41	37.3%
8/2005	106	62	44	41.5%
9/2005	118	77	41	34.7%
10/2005	113	66	47	41.6%
11/2005	114	68	46	40.4%
12/2005	113	60	53	46.9%
1/2006	120	80	40	33.3%
2/2006	115	71	44	38.3%
3/2006	105	60	45	42.9%
4/2006	117	69	48	41%
5/2006	99	58	41	41.4%
6/2006	103	62	41	39.8%
7/2006	103	62	41	39.8%
8/2006	113	66	47	41.6%
9/2006	116	64	52	44.8%
10/2006	120	69	51	42.5%
11/2006	107	62	45	42.1%
12/2006	116	73	43	37.1%
1/2007	105	62	43	41%
2/2007	115	70	45	39.1%
3/2007	121	73	48	39.7%
4/2007	125	77	48	38.4%
5/2007	117	69	48	41%
6/2007	121	77	44	36.4%
7/2007	116	75	41	35.3%
8/2007	109	62	47	43.1%
10/2007	115	67	48	41.7%
11/2007	117	72	45	38.5%
12/2007	121	74	47	38.8%
1/2008	121	75	46	38%
2/2008	118	70	48	40.7%
3/2008	128	77	51	39.8%
4/2008	128	74	54	42.2%
5/2008	117	73	44	37.6%
6/2008	127	82	45	35.4%
7/2008	106	64	42	39.6%
8/2008	123	78	45	36.6%
9/2008	130	77	53	40.8%
10/2008	129	74	55	42.6%
11/2008	119	70	49	41.2%
12/2008	120	70	50	41.7%
1/2009	124	76	48	38.7%
2/2009	108	64	44	40.7%
3/2009	118	74	44	37.3%
4/2009	103	61	42	40.8%
5/2009	101	63	38	37.6%
6/2009	103	61	42	40.8%
7/2009	93	51	42	45.2%
8/2009	90	53	37	41.1%
9/2009	89	51	38	42.7%
10/2009	99	58	41	41.4%
11/2009	97	55	42	43.3%
12/2009	99	54	45	45.5%
1/2010	108	64	44	40.7%
2/2010	92	59	33	35.9%
3/2010	98	61	37	37.8%
4/2010	103	66	37	35.9%
5/2010	96	56	40	41.7%
6/2010	58	31	27	46.6%
7/2010	86	46	40	46.5%
8/2010	81	47	34	42%

Thrasher Magazine Data

Month	Total Pages Logged	Editorial Pages Logged	Ad Pages Logged	% Ad Pages
6/2005	125	56	69	55.2%
7/2005	113	51	62	54.9%
8/2005	128	62	66	51.6%
9/2005	125	62	63	50.4%
10/2005	103	44	59	57.3%
11/2005	119	49	70	58.8%
12/2005	131	64	67	51.1%
1/2006	163	98	65	39.9%
2/2006	123	60	63	51.2%
3/2006	112	41	71	63.4%
4/2006	110	47	63	57.3%
5/2006	123	56	67	54.5%
6/2006	123	56	67	54.5%
7/2006	116	54	62	53.4%
8/2006	123	58	65	52.8%
9/2006	117	46	71	60.7%
10/2006	121	51	70	57.9%
11/2006	121	54	67	55.4%
12/2006	128	65	63	49.2%
1/2007	119	54	65	54.6%
2/2007	110	49	61	55.5%
3/2007	124	58	66	53.2%
4/2007	116	54	62	53.4%
5/2007	117	48	69	59%
6/2007	122	55	67	54.9%
7/2007	110	50	60	54.5%
8/2007	108	46	62	57.4%
9/2007	117	49	68	58.1%
10/2007	110	47	63	57.3%
11/2007	106	46	60	56.6%
12/2007	132	66	66	50%
1/2008	111	54	57	51.4%
2/2008	103	45	58	56.3%
3/2008	113	49	64	56.6%
4/2008	117	52	65	55.6%
5/2008	105	41	64	61%
6/2008	106	48	58	54.7%
7/2008	108	46	62	57.4%
8/2008	128	58	70	54.7%
9/2008	121	48	73	60.3%
10/2008	117	50	67	57.3%
11/2008	110	47	63	57.3%
12/2008	116	51	65	56%
1/2009	123	55	68	55.3%
2/2009	111	53	58	52.3%
3/2009	118	55	63	53.4%
4/2009	117	53	64	54.7%
5/2009	112	49	63	56.3%
7/2009	118	54	64	54.2%
8/2009	118	57	61	51.7%
9/2009	107	50	57	53.3%
10/2009	110	49	61	55.5%
11/2009	101	41	60	59.4%
12/2009	107	46	61	57%
1/2010	99	42	57	57.6%
2/2010	102	53	49	48%
3/2010	94	42	52	55.3%
4/2010	97	40	57	58.8%
5/2010	99	45	54	54.5%
6/2010	101	47	54	53.5%
7/2010	109	49	60	55%

Transworld Magazine Data

Month	Total Pages Logged	Editorial Pages Logged	Ad Pages Logged	% Ad Pages
6/2005	93	41	52	55.9%
7/2005	121	52	69	57%
8/2005	120	52	68	56.7%
9/2005	118	55	63	53.4%
10/2005	132	62	70	53%
11/2005	118	53	65	55.1%
12/2005	117	51	66	56.4%
1/2006	116	62	54	46.6%
2/2006	114	57	57	50%
3/2006	117	52	65	55.6%
4/2006	111	51	60	54.1%
5/2006	118	53	65	55.1%
6/2006	126	59	67	53.2%
7/2006	137	66	71	51.8%
8/2006	126	59	67	53.2%
9/2006	125	55	70	56%
10/2006	131	58	73	55.7%
11/2006	114	54	60	52.6%
12/2006	115	52	63	54.8%
1/2007	120	64	56	46.7%
2/2007	121	64	57	47.1%
3/2007	113	61	52	46%
4/2007	118	57	61	51.7%
5/2007	100	39	61	61%
6/2007	109	45	64	58.7%
7/2007	126	58	68	54%
8/2007	122	66	56	45.9%
9/2007	127	59	68	53.5%
10/2007	131	62	69	52.7%
11/2007	122	58	64	52.5%
12/2007	122	56	66	54.1%
1/2008	116	53	63	54.3%
2/2008	119	53	66	55.5%
3/2008	112	48	64	57.1%
4/2008	123	58	65	52.8%
5/2008	127	56	71	55.9%
6/2008	130	65	65	50%
7/2008	138	65	73	52.9%
10/2008	124	53	71	57.3%
8/2008	119	56	63	52.9%
9/2008	133	58	75	56.4%
11/2008	130	58	72	55.4%
12/2008	130	63	67	51.5%
1/2009	112	60	52	46.4%
2/2009	98	52	46	46.9%
3/2009	99	47	52	52.5%
4/2009	109	50	59	54.1%
5/2009	106	56	50	47.2%
6/2009	109	57	52	47.7%
7/2009	122	60	62	50.8%
8/2009	105	50	55	52.4%
9/2009	103	51	52	50.5%
10/2009	107	54	53	49.5%
11/2009	101	47	54	53.5%
12/2009	108	54	54	50%
1/2010	86	39	47	54.7%
2/2010	75	40	35	46.7%
3/2010	95	50	45	47.4%
4/2010	79	41	38	48.1%
5/2010	95	48	47	49.5%
6/2010	75	37	38	50.7%
7/2010	94	43	51	54.3%
8/2010	91	45	46	50.5%